LINCOLN, NEB. ? Bill Callahan almost ran out of adjectives Saturday night.

In describing Nebraska’s defensive performance in the 14-8 victory over Kansas, Callahan used the words “incredible,” “inspiring,” “awesome,” “exceptional” and “something else.”

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of the way our defense played tonight,” said Callahan, NU’s first-year coach. “They obviously won the game for us tonight.”

Nebraska was able to overcome four turnovers — three interceptions thrown by quarterback Joe Dailey and a fumble — and 82 KU offensive plays.

“When you’ve got the great defense that we’ve got,” Callahan said, “you just can’t say enough.”

In holding the Jayhawks without a touchdown, Nebraska held Kansas to 3.7 yards per play. The Huskers particularly were effective on third-down plays, allowing only three conversions in 19 KU attempts.

“When you play as a team,” said linebacker Barrett Ruud, who had a game-high 15 tackles, “it’s a bend-but-don’t-break attitude. We did a good job of just keeping them out of the end zone.”

KU quarterback Adam Barmann completed 24 passes, but 24 others fell incomplete, and another was intercepted by defensive back Fabian Washington.

“That’s been a big focus this week of practice,” Washington said. “We practiced a lot of quick slants, because that’s what they run. The whole secondary pretty much played their A game today.”

Kansas University's Kevin Kane (45) tackles Nebraska's Cory Ross in the first half. Ross finished with 107 yards and scored NU's two touchdowns in a 14-8 victory over the Jayhawks on Saturday in Lincoln, Neb.

If the secondary brought its A game, the Nebraska offense brought its C game with the four turnovers and only 11 first downs.

“There’s going to be some growing pains,” Callahan said. “You’ve got to take the good with the bad. I like our offense. We’ve just got to get better.”

Callahan has replaced Nebraska’s time-honored I-formation attack with the West Coast offense, and often it looked like the West Coast had fallen into the ocean even though the Huskers had an extra week to polish it.

“We didn’t play up to our potential,” Callahan said. “We thought we had made incredible strides during these past two weeks, and obviously that wasn’t reflected in our performance.”

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Callahan only has a week to prepare for Saturday’s trip to Texas Tech.

“I’m optimistic,” he said. “We’re going to keep pounding the rock and find new ways of moving the football.”

One thing is certain: The Huskers’ secondary will face a buzz saw when it faces pass-happy Tech in Lubbock, Texas.

“Next week we’ll be running a marathon,” cornerback Washington said. “But we’ll go in and just try to take a win out of Lubbock.”